How Unreasoned Impeachment Dysfunction Is Trashing Democrats

‘This puts the party in a new direction.”

These words were uttered by no less than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives would formally seek President Donald Trump’s impeachment.

How prophetic, how true … and how deadly for the traditional Democratic Party of blue-collar workers and their families.

The socialist/progressives whom AOC represents are now in charge of the “blue” party, whose character is clearly defined by the most left-wing New York and California politicians and voters. While these progressives love their unfounded impeachment dreams, they have no sense of what it is doing to the traditional, common-sense, family-oriented center of the Democrat party.

Their claim that Trump committed an impeachable offense in his conversation with the Ukrainian president when the resident discussed Joe Biden and his son’s payoff to enormous personal benefit is not a Trump problem. It is a Biden problem that Biden must deal with. 

Neither the Ukrainian phone call transcript which the White House released, nor the whistleblowers’ version, suggest that the president sought a “payoff” for himself or anyone in his administration. The conversation just involved pursuit of Biden’s actions for a big Ukrainian “payoff” for his son, which is the actual violation of law.

The Ukrainian president had just won in a landslide on an anti-corruption platform, the U.S. has an anti-corruption treaty with Ukraine, and Trump is the top law enforcement officer in the United States. So the phone conversation was more than justified. Following Hillary Clinton with Biden as the nominee would cement Democrats as the party of corruption.

This new impeachment mania appears to be “much ado about nothing,” which was the conclusion of the costly two-year probe of Trump-Russian collaboration known as the Mueller Report. This impeachment crusade might become known as the “Mueller Report 2.0,” leaving congressional conservatives and the president free to educate the public nationwide about the enormous, middle-class benefits of “Tax Reform 2.0”.

In Tax Reform 2.0, Republicans have the chance to make permanent the middle-class tax cuts in Tax Reform 1.0, which fabulist Democrats deny even exist. They were not permanent in the original bill because Democrats would not give a single vote for the tax cuts that created Trump’s Blue-Collar Boom. They also have the chance in 2.0 to repeal the death tax, which would be enormously popular among the grassroots of both parties. They have the chance to index capital gains for inflation, a long overdue reform which would further boost jobs, wages and economic growth.

Trump’s blue-collar boom was also created by his deregulation, particularly in energy. That has made America the world’s No. 1 producer of both oil and natural gas. Which means American energy independence, not the Green New Deal, under Trump.

Trump’s Blue-Collar Boom has created nearly 7 million new jobs, slashing unemployment to the lowest level since 1969, a half-century ago. That has included the lowest unemployment in American history for black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and young Americans (teenagers).

That makes Trump’s boom the most inclusive recovery in American history.

That has also included surging middle-class wages, with median incomes already up over $5,000 since Trump took office. Obama achieved only a $1,000 increase in eight years. But Pelosi’s impeachment silliness has distracted her do-nothing Democrats from doing anything for the middle class and the blue-collar workers who elected Trump, for whom Trump has delivered so handsomely.

Pelosi’s impeachment mania is even more curious because she knows it is unpopular in key states and districts of the nation. It is unpopular because it denies respect for the votes of the blue-collar workers who, unhappy with Obama’s stagnation, flipped Midwest states and put Trump in the White House.

And it is unpopular because it is so unreasoned in trying to impeach Trump for the corruption of Biden, just as it was Hillary who actually colluded with Russians. Yet it will dominate the political landscape for many months, highlighting the role of the socialist progressives most dangerous to the future of the traditionally blue-collar Democrat Party.

These progressives/socialists will continue to talk of tax reform repeal, increasing taxes on wealth, and instituting huge, costly government programs, which would only throw America back into crippling recession. All while wasting the time of the House of Representatives on impeachment proceedings that are absolutely certain to go nowhere in a “trial” in the U.S. Senate.

It appears that Pelosi is content with this being her last term as speaker of the House — and with Trump winning landslide re-election, rather than impeachment.

Lewis Uhler is founder and chairman of the National Tax Limitation Committee and National Tax Limitation Foundation (NTLF).  He was a contemporary and collaborator with both Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman in California and across the country. 

Peter Ferrara is the Dunn Liberty Fellow in Economics for the King’s College in New York, and senior policy adviser to NTLF.  He served on the White House Domestic Policy Council under Reagan, and as associate deputy attorney general of the United States under Attorney General Bill Barr and President George H.W. Bush.

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